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The Word Critical Comes From The Greek Word

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The word critical comes from the Greek word, krinein, which means "to separate" and "to choose." Being critical requires a person to draw intelligent conclusions by being somewhat skeptical and employing conscious, deliberate questioning. Goign back to the words used in the definition, being critical requires a thinker to separate the ideas, assumptions, experiences, or facts that are presented, and to choose, or decide, what he/she believes. In order to think critically, a person must be able to be be skeptical of his/her own ideas, own assumptions (things assumed to be true or things not necessarily recognized as assumed but that form the basis for beliefs), and the evidence he/she can offer for their ideas. It is certainly easier for us to be skeptical of the ideas of others, to be skeptical of ideas that are different from our own or that are new to us; it is generally more difficult for us to look open-mindedly at our own long-held beliefs, particularly those we have accepted as true. In order to think critically, you have to do two things: 1) analyze - find the parts of the problem, separate them, and then try to see how the things fit together, and 2) evaluate - judge the merit or value of the claims and assumptions and judge the strength of the evidence. These processes - analyzing and evaluating - require analytic, evaluative, and imaginative thinking. Whenever we learn or are presented with something new, we use these processes to some degree. Often, when we learn

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